Page 72 of Caught in the Devil’s Hand

“Really?” Rosuke asked, leaning forward to grasp her knees. Vallen and Oka pressed in close, and Vallen echoed Rosuke’s excitement.

“Can I watch you do the spell?” Oka asked. She gasped and looked down at him, realizing she had no way to explain it was a ritual he really wouldn’t want to see.

At once, both demons said no.

“What? Why?” he asked. “You always tell me to leave the room or go somewhere else. What’s going on?”

Rosuke shrugged. “Vallen and I have to be naked for the ritual, and I’m too embarrassed to be naked in front of a child.” Shumei’s jaw dropped at how quickly Rosuke had revealed such a damning fact.

“Why do you have to be naked?” Oka asked.

“Rosuke,” she said in a warning tone.

“There’s plenty of time when you’re older to see naked people,” Rosuke said, no doubt to distract Oka from his original point.

“I-I don’t,” Oka exclaimed. “I just want to see some magic.”

“I’ll show you something else, then,” she offered, latching on to his true wish.

“Really?”

“Sure,” she said, thinking quickly. She had never tried to perform magic on command and was hoping one of the many circles she had memorized would surface in her mind. On cue, the perfect one appeared.

She made to move, and all three of them stopped crowding her. After setting the spell book on the porch behind her, she slipped on her shoes and hopped to the ground. While searching for the right spot, she picked up a stick lying beneath a tree a few feet away.

Whereas other circles had to be drawn with some sort of implement and an “ink,” whether chalk, coal, blood, water, or something similar, this circle merely needed to be traced over the ground—no lasting marks necessary.

When she had found an area about fifteen feet across and free of large tree roots, she stood in the center and closed her eyes. A tree had once grown here, long ago, and it was now part of the house. Its roots had rotted away, becoming a part of the earth again. There was room for a new tree to grow.

Vallen watched in stunned silence as she whipped the small branch through the air, and even he could not recognize the circle she was creating. All he could tell was its similarity to patterns used by his family’s house. A pattern for plants.

He felt the pulse when her circle was complete, a tightening in the air. She backed away, tossed aside the branch, and spoke one simple evocation.

“Ki.”

There was a great rumbling, and the trees around them groaned as a large vine shot out of the ground, twisting and sprouting branches and leaves as it grew taller. The ground churned and broke as the vine widened, rising higher and higher. Its branches spread, filling in the space where sunlight had once hit the ground, growing bigger and fuller until the new tree hardened and came to a stop with one last shudder.

“Wow,” Oka cried out, clapping. He scrambled off the porch and ran to her. No doubt having taxed her magic, she struggled to smile while yawning. “Do it again, again!” He grabbed her skirt and danced around.

“It takes a lot of energy to do that. Maybe later, when I feel stronger?”

Rosuke and Vallen stood by the porch, speechless.

“I’ve only seen your grandmother do that,” Rosuke said.

“Maybe she’s meant for House Tree,” Vallen wondered, chest swelling with pride.

“She may,” Rosuke agreed. “We’re going to be cured, Vallen. I don’t know about you, but I’m shaking.”

“I can hardly believe it, nor how ill I’d treated her at first.” By the dueling gods, he’d taken her within minutes of meeting her—and in a field, no less. If he had been human, he’d have wooed her as none ever had even at the height of the Dark Court. He’d have given her flowers, poetry, and adventure. And when she was ready, he’d have made love to her so gently he wouldn’t have needed the virginal spell.

“Time will move forward for us, starting tonight, and you’ll have the rest of your life to make up for it,” Rosuke said.

“I’ll need all of it to express the full depth of my love and gratitude.”

Chapter Sixteen

Vallen ordered Shumei to take a nap and refresh herself before the ritual. Everyone else spent the afternoon cleaning and preparing one of the three rooms on the estate meant for magical rites. Rather than straw mats, the floor was a smooth, hard wood that was easy to draw upon. The only furniture was an altar large enough to hold a rakuda and a table meant for preparing ritual components.